Jonathan King launches euro appeal

Disgraced pop mogul Jonathan King has filed an application against his sex abuse convictions to the European Court of Human Rights, his solicitor said today.

King, who is serving a seven-year jail term, was found guilty in September 2001 of four indecent assaults against boys aged 14 to 15 in the 1980s.

A statement from his solicitor Peter Hughman said a number of factors made a fair trial "impossible" including "the lack of protection from damaging publicity for the accused and the huge sums available in both compensation reward and media interview fees".

The statement read: "He believes that the combination of the lack of a statute of limitations in the UK, the removal of any requirement for proof or corroboration, the lack of protection from damaging publicity for the accused and the huge sums available in both compensation reward and media interview fees made a fair trail impossible and clearly breached Article 6 of the Human Rights Act.

"He also believes that the ability of the judge to change the dates of the charges after his defence was presented, as happened in his case, breached his right to adequate time and facilities to prepare and present his defence against the later dates."

King will be represented by Peter Hughman of Hughmans Solicitors and barrister Steven Powles of Doughty Street Chambers.

The self-styled King of Pop has always maintained his innocence. In January, he failed in a bid to have his conviction overturned at the Court of Appeal. He has also asked the Criminal Cases Review Commission to examine his case.

King had his first hit with Everyone's Gone To The Moon in 1965 and produced records for Genesis.

He was fronting the TV show Entertainment USA and running his record label, UK Records at the time of his offences.

At his trial, the Old Bailey heard how the Cambridge-educated impresario lured the boys to his mews home at Queensborough Studios in Bayswater, central London, and showed them pornography before assaulting them.

A second trial alleging he committed serious sexual offences against two boys in the 1970s collapsed.